After the World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s recent ruling in US’ favour following its complaint against India’s solar equipment localisation rules, the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Tarun Kapoor, came out in favour of Indian manufacturers and said the ruling , does “not affect the future course of action” of the country.

WTO’s Panel recently ruled that the Indian domestic content requirements were discriminatory against US solar modules since they mandated solar developers to use modules and cells manufactured in India rather than imported ones, as part of the National Solar Mission in the country. In response, Tarun Kapoor emphasized US and India are working on the DCR related issues between the two nations to find an amicable solution. The US went ahead and circulated the report on the WTO ruling.

The US trade representative has also said they will continue working with India, in continuation of the last several months, and will “negotiate a resolution of this dispute” as per WTO rules. Kapoor added, “It does not affect the future course of action which India is considering as India is committed to protecting its industry while following WTO regulations. This will not, therefore, cause any dent in [the] ‘Make in India’ programme because we still have several options to support the domestic industry while remaining within the WTO regulations.”

Kapoor also went on to say how India still has the option of appealing against the ruling by WTO. According to Jasmeet Khurana, associate director at Bridge to India, the ruling could possibly make India’s capital subsidy scheme for solar rooftop power vulnerable to similar rulings in the future.

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